TV Party Tonight! Part Eight: Generation Axe - by Wal Ozello

Colin let me take over this week's TV Party. When this was first pitched at Pencilstorm’s Editorial Committee meeting, we all started visiting each others' You Tube feeds to check out what each other was watching.

Much to the surprise of most of the staff, mine wasn’t filled with Journey, Bon Jovi, Queen or dozens of those tenor rock vocalists. When I go deep diving on Youtube, it’s all about the gods of guitar. And not those bluesy, riffy guys like Keith Richards or Slash.  I like the pure distorted rapid neoclassical sounds of what’s known now as Generation Axe. 

So sit back, relax and prepare to have your mind blown. Remember all this stuff is LIVE. Engage rabbit hole… NOW.

We start with the man who broke the ceiling with rock guitar virtuosos and I'm not talking about Eddie Van Halen (snooze), I’m talking about the one and only Steve Vai.

 

You can’t listen to Vai without his contemporary, Joe Satraini.  While Satriani has dozens of amazing songs, here’s a gem I found.

 

Eric Johnson is another amazing guitar talent from this generation.  It’s hard to mention Vai and Satriani without Johnson.  Here’s his most famous.

 

Europe gave birth to this neoclassical heavy metal guitarist, Yngwie Malmsteen. Wow. Just wow.

 

There are some people out there who can do on four strings what others do on six. Here is bassist Billy Sheehan and guitarist Paul Gilbert doing an amazing duet.

 

And speaking of duets… make sure to watch this completely. At first, it’s just Joe Satriani playing his signature, “Always You, Always Me,” but half way through Steve Vai joins him on stage and it’s just mind-blowing to hear two masters go at it together.  It's like watching Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo paint together.

 

Pencilstorm contributor Wal Ozello is the lead singer of the Columbus Hairband, Armada, and the author of several time travel books.

KISS Ruined Rock N Roll Forever by Wal Ozello

This is day 8 of Kiss Kountdown to Rock Hall. Click here for day 9.

Kiss Ruined Rock n Roll Forever by Wal Ozello

Several decades ago I was with my band, Armada, trying to break into the Cleveland/Akron market. A friend of a friend got us our first gig at the Akron Agora. We were third on the bill – playing from 9:30-10:30 and had to basically open for the opening band. That’s a hard kick in the chest for any lead singer, especially when we had been headlining weekends at the Alrosa Villa for two years or so.

After we rocked the house, we were followed by the #2 band on the bill. They were all dressed completely in black. Each guy had dyed their hair pure black, put on white powder make up, and black eyeliner. Except for the lead singer who had dyed his hair platinum blond. Just before going on stage they all glued on black Lee press-on fingernails.

I don’t remember what they played or how they sounded. But I do remember sitting there thinking how much time and effort my band had put into perfecting covers like Spirit Of The Radio, Freewill, Magic Power, and Modern Day Cowboy and then had to follow a circus act.  That’s what the sound guy called them, “A Circus Act.”

It was that moment in time that I despised the fire-breathing, blood-spitting Gene Simmons from KISS. I knew my band’s unique blend of pop and prog would never see the light of a major recording studio because we didn’t have that “marketing thing.”

To me, KISS was an average rock n roll band from New York City. They were nowhere near the level of acts like Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Lou Reed and others that came from the same era.  So KISS did what any marketing guru would do and came up with another reason to come see them play: make-up, performance tricks, crazy costumes.  Basically a circus act.

They were a hit.  Everyone everywhere began to worship them as rock gods. In fact, check out all the other pencilstorm blogs this week that sing their praise.

But this circus act called KISS had a huge adverse effect on modern popular music.  No longer was songwriting or musicianship important. A straight-up rock n roll show wasn’t good enough for the likes of Warner, RCA, and PolyGram anymore – they wanted a circus act instead.

So I didn’t grow up with Bruce Springsteen passion-filled rock anthems, Pink Floyd concept albums, or The Rolling Stones rhythmic rock riffs.

Instead I had Bon Jovi bungee-jumping from the rafters. Twisted Sister dressing up as women. The Prince of Darkness biting the heads off of bats.

In the pop scene, Michael Jackson needed a glove. Prince needed a purple jacket. ZZ Top needed beards, a 1930s Ford Coupe, and spinning guitars. Hell… Milli Vanilli wasn’t even a real band.

And even if the band had talent, they still needed a gimmick. During one of my favorite concerts as a kid, I couldn’t enjoy Steve Vai’s melodic off-phrase solos because David Lee Roth was flying high above the stage on a huge surfboard.

This is was the Rock N Roll I was forced to grow up with all because Gene Simmons wanted to make some money instead of music.

God may have given us Rock N Roll but the guy in charge of purgatory gave us KISS.

Wal Ozello is the author of Assignment 1989: The Time Travel Wars and is the lead singer of the Columbus hairband Armada. He's a resident of Upper Arlington, Ohio and a frequent customer at Colin's Coffee.

Learn more about Wal Ozello and other Pencilstorm contributors by clicking here